CCM6770 - Particular Aspects: Work & Hours - Self-employed Claimants - Activities to be taken into account when calculating the number of Hours Worked

It can be particularly difficult to establish how many hours a self-employed person works, as the link between the amount of time taken to produce something and the amount of remuneration received for it, may not be straightforward. The hours to be counted will include:

• any which will be costed to the client / customer as spent in producing / providing the individual order or service
• trips to wholesalers and retailers
• visits to potential clients
• time spent on advertising or canvassing business.

These activities need to be considered in the context of the whole period during which the claimant has been self-employed. If a business is in its early days, it is more likely that the claimant will have to invest large amounts of time and effort in building up business contacts for little or no outcome. Over time, however, the amount of unproductive time spent in this way should markedly reduce. If it does not, it may be an indication that the work is not genuinely remunerative.

• cleaning the business premises.

If the business premises are also the claimant’s home, normal domestic cleaning will not count, unless a room or other structure (such as a shed) is specially set aside for the business; or the business, by its nature, gives rise to the need for additional cleaning. In these cases, only that proportion of the total cleaning time that is spent on cleaning the dedicated part of the premises will count

• cleaning a vehicle used as part of the business.

For example a taxi or driving school car. Where the vehicle is used for both business and private use, time spent cleaning it will only count if the business, by its nature, gives rise to the need for additional cleaning

• travelling for the purposes of the business.

If the claimant occupies separate business premises, any travel between their home and their business premises, will not count

• book keeping
• research work.

For example where the claimant is an established author. Research carried out by persons who are not established authors, in the hope of one day becoming established, will not count.